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There I said it, it’s out and that means I will be complaining about it for the rest of the summer….or will I? I am outta here June 30 and some of you have asked where I’m moving to and the answer is still I don’t know. I am throwing a pair of deuces to Charlotte, driving to the NC beaches for July 4th then going up to DC for a week. Afterwards, I may drive up to NYC and Boston but that’s still in the air. And of course at some point I would like to check out Colorado but I’m not sure if I would drive there or fly. If I flew, I would drive back to Florida where all my stuff will be at my parents then fly from there while they dogsit Lincoln. And then there is Italy in August or September for a few weeks and then Phoenix in September. So I am hoping to have an idea of where I will be come October but we’ll see.

Well it broke….again. So I threw the deuces to it and now have my mattress on the floor. I feel like I should be in a movie about heroin addiction with my mattress on the floor, it’s just weird. Now I just have to figure out how to dissemble it. I heard a rumor that you can go to Ikea and buy the made-for-Ikea-only tools there but I’m not sure if that’s true-anyone know?

I made my way to the gym on Wednesday morning and had a better than expected workout. I’m so unmotivated to even move when it gets hot out much less go work out. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical then did one mile on an Expresso Recumbent Bike, has anyone else ever done this?

When I hopped on, you had to either log in or you could sign in as a guest. I’ve never seen it before so I just logged on as a guest then from there you pick your route. I just did a mile since that was the first option and kept beeping so loud whenever I tried to go to another option, I just wanted it to stop. It was cool because you can see right in front of you where you are going, the course, your heart rate, calories burned, gears, distance and other competitors (a few guys looked hot from the backside) but I couldn’t figure out how to steer! I tried moving the handles near the monitor and the ones on the side and nothing. I will have to do some research. Besides the little issue of not being able to steer, I enjoyed this. It’s been forever since I biked, I really would like to get back into it. When I was in high school, we would ride our bikes to beach, stay all day, ride back, stop for lunch, come home and pass out. I miss those days.

I made a chicken tacos for lunch with a side of kale chips. I bought a huge bunch the other day so I need to burn through those babies.

I went to Manifest Disc to find a Zero Seven cd. I discovered them thanks to my friend Pandora and have really been diggin their sound. I also had a $7 left to use there so I got three cd’s for $6, not too shabby

Yes, I like disco and am not afraid to admit it. I wish I had a video camera so I could record Lincoln and I doing the Hustle yesterday afternoon. Ok, well I was doing it and I was motioning his arms in the air. This right here is reason #298 why I don’t have a boyfriend: because I dance with my dog to disco music.

Afterwards, I went to Panera to steal some Wi fi. I just wanted something to drink but forgot they have Pepsi products—boo. I got their low fat Black Cherry smoothie

Let’s talk about the straw

Look at how thick it is (twss)! I thought McD’s had the thickest straws out there but this bad boy was huge and I felt naughty. So after I finished my smoothie, I took it home with me. Unfortunately, the smoothie wasn’t anything to write home about. It tasted chalky and too artificial.

I made Stephanie’s Eggplant Manicotti. Well, kinda, my meal was an adapation from it because I strayed in so many ways. I wanted to make this months ago but apparently there was an eggplant shortage. Good for the shortage though because I found eggplants for $1 each this week at Bi-Lo.

I am not a ricotta fan so I subbed cottage cheese for the ricotta. I’ve never done this before but heard it’s a good substitute. I also didn’t have any spinach on hand or enough breadcrumbs so this was going to be an interesting turn out. Oh, I didn’t mention how I forgot to save or print out the recipe so I couldn’t find it did I? Yeah, well that happened as well so I was kinda just going with it.

I chopped up some onion and parsley then added to the mixture along with garlic, red pepper flakes, thyme and black pepper.

I breaded the eggplant and baked them instead of frying them as the original recipe goes for. All in my quest to drop some poundage, as I am all about the fried stuff.

Good thing I stole some toothpicks last week because these didn’t want to stay put

But then I couldn’t remember in the recipe how she sliced them so I sliced one of the eggplant long ways and then I had a few eggplant sliced rounds sitting around so I used those. When I put the filling on the rounds they looked like little eggplant tacos!

I don’t have any jarred spaghetti sauce on hand so I made my own using frozen diced tomatoes, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, red pepper flakes, pepper, salt and merlot with the help of my friend Chuckie Shaw

It didn’t make too much sauce since there weren’t that many diced tomatoes. I poured a little in the pan, topped with the eggplant manicotti, covered the rest in the remainder of the sauce, sprinkled with mozzarella then let bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees

The result:

It didn’t look too much like Stephanie’s but it turned out fantastic. I would bake the eggplant a little more next time (because there will be a next time) since it didn’t seem too done but all in all a great tasting meal. I can’t wait to have the leftover, thanks Stephanie for providing the recipe!

Oh yeah, I have a giveaway going on if you would like to enter! It is a sweet package consisting of the following:

*Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade Desserts

*Three 2.25 oz jars of Cloister Honey

*Trader Joe’s Vanilla Cake & Baking Mix

*Box of Samoas

Some of you may be thinking “Tiffany, this all stuff of yours that you are trying to pawn off on other people” and the answer is yes. This is stuff that I will throw away if I don’t use, none of the food has been opened and instead of throwing it away, I’m throwing deuces to it as I’m sure someone else can get better use out of it.

Ways to enter:

1) Tell me your favorite smoothie combination

2) Link this comment back to your blog and leave a comment letting me know you did

3) Follow me on Twitter (@TiffanyNico) and leave a comment or a comment letting me know you already do

LA right now is like mid-60s. Not hot at all, a bit gloomy. Don’t think I look forward to the humid hot weather that is bound to come. But I heard it’s like 98 degrees over at the east coast!

I don’t understand the super thick straws unless it’s for boba. Have you tried boba? I think milk tea is the only…”smoothie” I really like. I’m just not much of a smoothie fan. Can I still enter though? 🙂

I don’t want to be entered in your giveaway, but I wanted to comment (of course.)
It was 94 here the other day and then 74 the next. WTF? Anyway, that straw is scary and looks like it could suck your face into oblivion. Second, I want to love eggplant, but unless it’s in a restaurant or someone else makes a similar recipe to the one you’ve included, I find it difficult to enjoy. Then again, cover it in cheese and I’m good.

Smoothies? I like my weird one: mango, banana and peach. Or whatever is in the house that hasn’t yet gone bad 🙂

Gotta love the 2-buck Chuck. It really isn’t that bad! I don’t know about your Trader Joe’s, but the ones here have some great $4 wines too. I know, splurging. But the extra $1 made the quality go waaay up.

YAY! I’m so glad you liked my recipe 🙂 It’s one of my favs…so a tip about the eggplant if you bake it…slice it up, salt it, and let it sit for 20 minutes to a half hour. The salt will suck out all the moisture and the eggplant will crisp up nicely almost like you fried it (I apologize if you already knew that, don’t want to be Captain Obvious over here)

My apartment is full of Ikea furniture, I mean like nearly every piece came from Ikea! All of my furniture can be assembled/ disassembled with regular tools; Allen wrench (it looks like a hexagon), a socket wrench (usually metric), Phillips (plus) and flathead (minus) screwdrivers, and a hammer … these can be found anywhere, they are standard tools. 🙂 Hope that helps.

Your smoothie straw is just like the straws sold here for bubbletea. 🙂 Bubbletea is a Taiwanese drink that comes in many varieties. I like the kind that is basically a smoothie with chewy tapioca pearls or flavoured jellies.

Hi, I’m a new reader! Came across your blog through hlb.com.
I can totally understand you non-love for ikea! Ha, when my husband and I were putting our bed frame together, my fingers were going numb and I just wanted to rip each one off! 🙂
I’m loving your version of the eggplant dinner, it looks delicious! I’m going to have to search my gym for that machine! I usually stick with the arch trainer, or elliptical, but that one looks cool! Anyway ,getting way to long of a comment~ When you get a chance, visit my blog:)